Broome County executive sells homemade jewelry from office

Broome County Executive Debbie Preston sold homemade jewelry to employees inside the Broome County Office Building in 2012 and 2013, an activity she says was permitted under county policy, the Press & Sun-Bulletin reported today.

Preston wouldn't talk publicly about the matter to the paper, and instead provided written responses to questions about it.

“She is booked with back-to-back meetings and appointments for the next week or so,” her spokesman told the paper.

She said she made the jewelry herself and sold or traded it to others in the office.

“One of my personal hobbies for the last several years has been making simple homemade jewelry,” she said in the statement. “In the past, I have offered the jewelry within the building.”

The jewelry, though, was on full display outside her office and one of her secretaries collected the money from the sales.

Preston, whose salary is $92,083, estimated she has sold no more than 25 of the items that totaled “several hundred dollars over a few years.”